Wednesday, February 29, 2012

First Sunday in Lent, Burgbrennen, Luxembourg; Leap Year Day

On the first Sunday in Lent (Invocabit), fires are lit on the hills. The word is derived from the Latin verb comburere, ('to burn'), the first syllable being dropped and the second one corrupted to 'burg'. Originally Burgbrennen was a pagan rite symbolising the victory of the sun over winter.

Young boys used to go from house to house, begging for straw, wood and faggots. They would make a bonfire which, in Christian times, featured a wooden cross. The 'burg' is still set alight by the most recently married man (probably a reminiscence of an old pagan fertility ceremony). Sometimes a wheel is put on top of the pole and covered with rags soaked in oil, reminiscent of the Catherine Wheel (see November 25).The people of Luxembourg traditionally also burn such a bonfire at Easter, representing the rebirth of nature; the St John's Eve burg (June 23) evoking the summer solstice; and finally the Martinmas fire standing for the fading away of Autumn. Luxembourg Traditions in USA

"The custom of kindling bonfires on the first Sunday in Lent has prevailed in Belgium, the north of France, and many parts of Germany … It seems hardly possible to separate from these bonfires, kindled on the first Sunday in Lent, the fires in which, about the same season, the effigy called Death is burned as part of the ceremony of 'carrying out Death'."

The solar year does not have whole number of days, but a calendar year must have a whole number of days. The only way to reconcile the two is to vary the number of days in the calendar year.

In many calendars, this is done by adding to a common year of 365 days, an extra day (leap day or intercalary day): this makes a leap year of 366 days.

The solar year does not have a whole number of lunar months either, so a lunisolar calendar must have a variable number of months in a year. This is usually 12 months, but sometimes a 13th month (an intercalary or embolismic month) is added to the year.

January and February were introduced into the Roman calendar by Numa Pompilius (d.673 BCE) the second king of Rome. Februare meaning 'purification', this was the month of expiation and purification for Romans. Numa arranged for it to have 29 days except in leap years when it had, by the intercalation of a day between the 23rd and 24th, thirty.

When Caesar Augustus added a 31st day to the month named after him, so that it would not lack the dignity of having the full complement of days, he took a day from February, which could least spare it.

Now we drop a day from each century except those of which the ordinal number can be divided by four – again we take it from February. So February lost its 29th day in 1800 and 1900 and will again in 2100, 2200, and so on.

Bissextile

"We add a day to February in leap year, but the Romans counted 24 February twice, and called it dies bissextus (sexto calendas Martius), the sextile or sixth day before 1 March. This day was reckoned twice (bis) in leap year, which was called annus bissextus."Ivor H Evans, Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, Cassell, London, 1988

"In 46 BC, Julius Caesar … created a calendar system that added one leap day every four years. Acting on advice by Alexandrian astronomer Sosigenes, Caesar did this to make up for the fact that the Earth's year is slightly more than 365 days. In modern terms, the time it takes for the Earth to circle the Sun is slightly more than the time it takes for the Earth to rotate 365 times (with respect to the Sun – actually we now know this takes about 365.24219 rotations). So, if calendar years contained 365 days they would drift from the actual year by about 1 day every 4 years. Eventually July (named posthumously for Julius Caesar himself) would occur during the northern hemisphere winter! By adopting a leap year with an extra day every four years, the calendar year would drift much less. This Julian Calendar system was used until the year 1582 when Pope Gregory XIII added that leap days should not occur in years ending in '00' except if divisible by 400, providing further fine-tuning. This Gregorian Calendar system is the one in common use today. Therefore, even though this year 2000 ends in '00', it remains a leap year, and today is the added leap day. That makes today the first leap day for a centurial year since year 1600 and the second such leap day of the Gregorian Calendar."Source

Women, grab your partner

There is a tradition that women may make a proposal of marriage to men only on February 29; this is a tightening of an older tradition that such proposals may only occur in leap years.

In 1288 the Scottish Parliament legislated that any woman could propose in Leap Year. The man may, of course, refuse but, by tradition, he should soften the blow by providing a kiss, one pound currency and a pair of gloves (some sources say a silk gown). This law was adopted in France, Switzerland and Italy and the tradition was carried to America.

In Al Capp's comic strip Li'l Abner, a similar custom called 'Sadie Hawkins Day' was commemorated on or around November 9 (qv) each year. On Sadie Hawkins Day, in the hillbilly town of Dogpatch, a race was held for spinsters, in pursuit of all the local bachelors who must marry if caught. Sadie Hawkin's Day functions are still held in some places, and by association with the older tradition, sometimes now occur on or around February 29.

I have no idea what the custom is if either the spinster or bachelor should happen to be bissextile.

The solar year does not have whole number of days, but a calendar year must have a whole number of days. The only way to reconcile the two is to vary the number of days in the calendar year.

In many calendars, this is done by adding to a common year of 365 days, an extra day (leap day or intercalary day): this makes a leap year of 366 days.

The solar year does not have a whole number of lunar months either, so a lunisolar calendar must have a variable number of months in a year. This is usually 12 months, but sometimes a 13th month (an intercalary or embolismic month) is added to the year.

MENU AT VERY TOP OF BLOG

Wilson's Blogmanac, founded on April 26, 2003. Dedicated to the 353 victims of Australia's shame, the SIEVX disaster,
and casualties of poverty and authority worldwide. Public Domain (an explanation is at Wikipedia), Pip Wilson, 2003-2011. But kindly email if you republish. I'm currently launching and promoting the free e-book, 'Microminibliss', for
those interested in my new links directory, Bellingen (Australia), and my Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). (Use Search for that.) So, kindly Google the word 'Microminibliss', and some links will come up, not 25 million in the usual Google manner.